11-year-old saved from drowning in Sturgeon River

Tuesday

Aug 29, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Kortny Hahn Staff Writer, @khahnCDT @khahnCDT

TUSCARORA TOWNSHIP- An 11-year-old boy was saved from the Sturgeon River with help from the Tuscarora Township Police Department, Tuscarora Township Fire Department and a woman who lives along the river.

Township Police Chief Gordon Temple said his department received a call on Aug. 23 about a boy who was stuck in the water behind McDonald's in Indian River. The 11-year-old had his ankle caught in a log under the water. When he arrived on scene, there was a woman who lived along the river who had jumped in and was helping to hold the boy's head above water.

“What it was, he was sitting inside the tube and was just kind of walking along. But he stuck his foot into a brush pile, so it got stuck in there,” said Temple. “As the current was taking him down, he was holding onto the tube, screaming for help.”

The boy had been tubing down the river with a church group who was visiting the area. They had already gone around the corner and were working to make their way back to the boy when Temple arrived.

“When I got there, I jumped in and got his leg free, but then his shoe laces were still stuck,” said Temple.

It was then that Kirk Maves from the Tuscarora Township Fire Department arrived and also got into the river to help rescue the boy.

“He grabbed my knife and cut his shoe laces free,” said Temple.

Once he was out of the water, the boy was checked over by personnel from the Cheboygan Life Support Systems Ambulance and was released.

“He was fine,” said Temple.

The department was also able to get a habitual drunk driver off the street on Aug. 25.

Officers with the department were on routine patrol when they observed a vehicle traveling west on M-68,

“The vehicle was back and forth within its lane and kept crossing the centerline,” said Temple. “Officers stopped the vehicle and made contact with the driver who identified himself as a 53-year-old Gaylord man.”

The officers could smell a strong odor of intoxicants while speaking with the man and the man admitted that he had been drinking. He was asked to perform field sobriety tests, which he failed, and kept telling officers that he was drunk.

The man was checked through the Law Enforcement Information Network and Secretary of State, which showed his license was suspended for four prior operating while intoxicated arrests. He was then placed under arrest for operating while intoxicated third offense and driving while license suspended second or subsequent offense and lodged at the Cheboygan County Jail.